As we age we stop performing many activities that came naturally at a younger age. Think about it, when we were in elementary school we ran on the playground, climbed up the ladder of the slide, crawled through play tunnels, hid in bushes during hide and seek. We played on the floor, on the grass, and in trees. I like to say that we were “multi-level players.” Add 20 years and we were multi-level parents. We bent down to pick up our child after a fall and a skinned knee, we bent down to get a hug, to pick up our child and carry them up to bed. Maybe we knelt by the side of the bed to say prayers. We definitely bent down to pull a favorite stuffed animal out from under the bed, or at least a sock.
Then our children grew, we stopped picking them up. We approach retirement and we rarely live our life on multiple levels anymore. This seems convenient; we sit on chairs and not the floor. We arrange our kitchens and work room so that everything we need on a daily basis is somewhere between our belly button and our ears. We are so smart. And so efficient.
But we could be too efficient. We are limiting our movement each day and the old adage “use it or lose it” applies to muscle strength and range of motion. Range of motion describes that amount of movement we have around a joint. As we age our muscles begin to lose mass because of a decrease in the number and size of muscle fibers. As senior care service providers we will only maintain or gain strength through the range that we use. So over time the muscles that we use to reach for needed items weaken, the muscles that we use to squat and return to standing weaken. And what we don’t know is that these large muscles of our legs are muscles that are essential to balance and mobility. Strength in these muscles helps us right ourselves quickly when we have had a misstep and begin tripping. They help us to get up and down stairs and curbs safely. They help to prevent back strain when lifting.
The last exercises helped us to prepare for the day, to wake our muscles up, increase circulation, and to lengthen what is likely getting shortened. In addition to these, in caring for ourselves as we prepare to care for seniors, throughout the day it is important to incorporate a few exercises that will maintain our strength, and in particular to maintain the strength in our antigravity muscles since we have determined that gravity is working against us.
Start facing a chair or counter.
March in place, placing a hand on the counter or chair only if you need to in order to feel safe. March for a minute, take a break and march for another minute. If that is too much, march for a count of 10, take a break and march for another count of 10.
Keeping your knees aligned over your second toe, slowly sit back as if you are going to sit in a chair. Lower only as far as you can go and still feel control, making certain that you do not become “knock kneed” that is, your knees do not move towards each other but stay centered over your toes.
If the exercise above, sitting back towards a pretend chair, is difficult, reverse the exercise. Sit in a chair and slowly come towards standing. Then slowly lower back to sitting. Again, keep those knees over your toes and do not let them come towards the middle.
Keeping your knees aligned over your toes is important for the health of your knees.
Facing the counter or chair, rise up on your toes, hold for a count of 3 and lower. Repeat 10 times. Work up to 3 sets of 10.
Now in standing, pull your toes up towards your legs, lifting the toes and forefoot off of the floor. Hold for a count of 3, repeat 10 times. Build up to 3 sets of 10.
These chair or counter exercises are going to go a long way in keeping you strong for the day as a care provider for seniors or in caring for yourself. In a perfect world we do all of the exercise together, starting with those I described for you to do at the start of the day before getting out of bed. But I have yet to find a perfect world here on family-raising, chore filled, work laden, gravity pulling earth. Do them as you have time. One exercise in 30 seconds to a minute is better than no exercise at all. We tend to feel if we cannot do everything we will not start at all. Not true with a home exercise program. Do what you can when you can and your life will begin to feel easier, pain will be reduced and endurance will increase as you move more efficiently.